Paul’s Letter to the Galatians – Chapter 3 – Faith vs Law and the Freedom of Christ

Now then, recently, Blastinius came and visited with you, and he gave you a whole new law to live under. Really introduced you to lots of things you never heard of, like circumcision. Just how exciting was it before Paul showed up in your town? How glorious was it for you living under the law that you had adopted for yourself? You tell me. You weren’t really getting a whole lot out of that. Then Paul came along, and he presented to you: Jesus Christ. You remember that? Was that wonderful? You were having a hard time, and he came with grace, with the message of grace. Something that came without any working, no code, no morals, nothing. Did you like that? Did joy come from there? Oh, wonderful. Joy came from there. We have a brother down here who said joy came from there. The Spirit came and hooked onto the outer lobe of his ear. Right. No. What happened? The Spirit came…the Lord’s own Spirit came and lived inside of him. It was wonderful. Do we have anybody else to say that it happened to them? You remember that? Would you say something? Say amen. That’s a good word.

You remember? Do you remember? You can bet your life I remember. What is the testimony of so many Christians that it comes up as a great chorus? The first two years I was saved were just wonderful. I don’t know what happened after that. Something happened after that. When I was a young minister, I noticed something parallel to this. I’m off the subject now. I would go around preaching and then as I became an evangelist, I’d be sitting at people’s home and we’d be in this church building holding a meeting, but I’d be eating with Mr. and Mrs. Smith and they’d say, “You know, our church started here four years ago and it was meeting in John Brown’s living room and he said it was so wonderful.” And then we built a church building, and we lost something. He said, ‘I don’t know what it was, what it was we lost. I guess that’s just the penalty you pay for getting larger. I began hearing that again and again and again. I began to wonder whether they should ever have gotten out of that living room, because it killed something they had. You know what it killed? It killed the community. Whoever invented the pew and the church building probably did more to wreck the Christian faith than anything since Blastinius.

The same thing happened to most of us as young Christians. I wish you could have come to this conference when you were about two years old in Christ, because I think I know what happened to you. You shifted your foundation. You shifted it from your simplicity in Christ, trying to please Christ, or a preacher, or a standard, or, if you please, you adopted a new standard. You added to Christ, and anytime you add to Christ, you dethrone the Lord, and you put human instrumentality upon the throne. Your God, your Lord, is really seeking to say something to you. It is all of grace. It is all of Him. All of Him.

Now, Galatians, you were running well. I have this question to ask you. Did you get the spirit within you, a spirit that has borne witness to you that brought you joy and peace in Christ…did you get that from God, or did you get that from law? Did the law inseminate into you the Spirit of the living God who came into you and became one with you? Yes or no? No, the law did not do that. Then why did you switch railroad tracks? Why, in running on the spirit and in the spirit and from the spirit and by the spirit, did you switch to law? Why did you do that? Can you explain yourself? Defend yourself. More light. You got more light. Yes. Yes, you got too much light. Now, I want to ask you the simplest question in the world. I’m prepared to be challenged on this, but I’m prepared to hold my ground, too.

Have you ever met a happy legalist? Oh, you know, I think maybe you have. He’s happy at moments. At times, he’s happy. But he was not happy for very long. I know these brothers; they are never happy for very long. One of two things happens. They either get concerned about their own life or your life. Is that not true? Will you not witness that? I want to tell you I’ve never met a happy legalist. I’m going to show you a legalist. You have to become more submissive than you are. For those of you who didn’t hear that, I just told one of them down here that they had to become more submissive. She had to become more submissive. This is the spirit of a legalist. He isn’t ever content. Tomorrow it will be something else. He’s frustrated. I’ve been referring to Brad here, but I knew Brad back when I checked him out last night. Brad was one of these kinds of people. Miserable with himself and miserable with everybody else around him. Always trying to adjust something. And watch him get frustrated. It was just really interesting, and I also watched Brad start to get free of that, and he was just as I said the other day: euphoric. So today, last night, or yesterday, I asked J, “Is he better? Has he gotten better?” And she said…oh, well, J, you tell them. You go ahead. Tell these folks what you said to me. Don’t paint it too good. I know Brad, but what do you say? Much better. You said more than that yesterday. What did he do to you today? This morning, J, he puts you under the law. He said, she said, he’s not a legalist at all. But, you know, I’m going to tell you something. Brad is a bit of a legalist, but it’s just a bit. Somebody had to tamper with Brad to make him as bad as he was. Is that not true, Brad? Somebody had to tamper with you. A Southern Baptist mama. Is that right? That’s where it started. I bet somebody else got to you, too, though, didn’t.

Audience: Listen. You know what you were saying a minute ago? I got converted by myself, you know, you know, no little one, two threes or anything. And so that lasted a couple of weeks, and then I started going to a Bible study. I went for two weeks.

Bless your heart. That’s too bad. I’m sorry you went to that Bible study, brother. A Bible study will really put you under the pile. A couple of years ago, my wife and I learned something we did not know. Probably many of you know this, but for those of you who do not, sociologists have discovered four basic personalities, and they are true in America, China, South Africa, among the Eskimos, and anywhere. I’m going to try to describe them to you really quickly. Now then, nobody is purely any one of those. Most of us have a blend of two of them. Therefore, there are 16 basic personalities. The two most extreme are the domineering type person and the very clinical, careful type person who does bookkeeping, you know, and puts everything in order. This kind of person loves to dominate. They should never marry one another. Then there is the emotionally outgoing person who loves to get excited about things and everything wonderful. Love sunsets, artistic work, couldn’t make up their bed if their life depended on it, and their home is an absolute shambles. Then there’s another kind of person. God love them. This is man’s image of the Christian, which is a shame because the other three of us have a right to be a Christian too. This is a very satisfied person. They’re not temperamental, and it’s very easy to get along with them; they facilitate others, help them, and make a great secretary if they happen to be a woman. Just…that’s fine, honey. If you’re a wife, or if the husband, you know, is just satisfied where you live, like to live in the same town, same house, but you really like security and stability, four kinds of people.

Please look at this first one. This guy is, by nature, domineering and dictatorial, a leader, not very organized, but very willing to get the rest of the world organized. Now, this person down here is organized. This person who’s outgoing, this person’s very satisfied, very afraid of this one, but God put this one on the earth to keep this one from absolutely taking over the planet. This one over here, the bookkeeper, the precise, the scientific one, comes over to the domineering person and says, “Why do you do that? That’s the worst thing you can ask him. Don’t ask me to explain anything. You know, go do what I tell you to do. I think you’re wrong. Give me a good reason for that. Let me show you why it won’t work. Hates one another. This is the cobra, and this is the mongoose, and that cobra is dangerous. Oh, that cobra is dangerous. I want you to know that cobras are so dangerous. Mongoose is about half blind, can’t see, can’t smell. Kills that cobra every time. Ladies and gentlemen, I’d like for you to meet a mongoose right here. Audience: Yeah, I know. My calling is to keep the cobra from taking over the world.

You’re doing a great job, sweetheart. For your information, I am these two. I am a very outgoing, personable person. Helpful, well met, never met a stranger in my life, really like everybody, like to be involved in things. I got a little of this in me, but God let me marry this. Isn’t that wonderful? All four of these people need their basic nature broken, not changed – broken. There are times when this very secure person needs to be very bold and go do something very not secure. Let me see. That’s this one. Yeah, this one right here ought to leave the house messy one day and stop worrying about whether the checks are balanced. This outgoing human being really needs to slow down sometimes, stop talking so much, and get into the real world. It’s really hard, isn’t it, Carol? But to you, my friend Brad, to you, this person can be extremely legalistic. These two people right here can be so legalistic. These two people couldn’t care less about legalism, but they will listen, can be duped into it, and will follow. But these two people are legalistic. This one right here is not the least bit legalistic toward himself. He is legalistic toward you. He wants you to clean up your room, get your checks in order, and make sure you make your product perfect. This guy right here, he’s legalistic toward himself and toward everybody else, and he is very overwhelming. This brother is a natural leader, and these kinds of people run around here on this earth, folks, and they’re waiting to find you. They’re going to lead you, and they’re going to straighten you out, but they remain frustrated to the day they die. They can never make everything as good as they want it to be. They have very little sense of humor. They are usually heads of corporations. You can’t insult him, or I mean you can go up and tell him he’s a heathen and tell him he’s the devil, so forth; he won’t even watch you. He’ll keep on walking. I’m talking about the Simon-pure variety. He keeps on chugging along. A very aggressive type of human being. Now that’s all right. I know I’m drawing a very ugly picture here, but some of God’s finest men are these men broken. These men, broken…but unbroken and saved, this is one of the most dangerous critters who ever lived. And I want to tell you something else: some of you are following such a man right now.

I was told by someone who knows a lot about this that Billy Graham is a this and a this, the same thing I am. You know, I really thank God that my brother is a broken man. I don’t have much good to say about the religious system, but from the day I first heard of him until this day, Billy Graham has had my undying respect. I got nothing lodged against that man. He has been a highly ethical human being in a situation that’s very difficult to be ethical in. And thank God the brother is broken because otherwise he is dangerous, and all you have to do is see other men like him who were not broken. Now, I’d like for you, every one of you, to step back from these kinds of people, unbroken men. They will drive you to the ends of this earth with their domineering and domination of your life. I met them. Look in their eyes. This is an unhappy human being. He is intent. Sometimes he is swaying vast audiences. Meet him afterward. Why didn’t he walk out here in the aisle? No, he is…whichever way he’s going, that’s the way he’s going. Do you know who I’m talking about? Have you ever met this man? Maybe you’re married to him. You think you just did? Sometimes this other one can be the same way. Very intent. One of the greatest needs in this world is for these two people to develop a sense of humor, but more than that, they need to meet the cross of Jesus Christ head-on. Well, so do you two people, all of us do. But take that person with that basic disposition. I was speaking here, Brother Brad. Brad, I hope you don’t feel picked on. Is that alright? I know Brad well enough to feel safe here. Start feeding him concepts, ethical codes, standards, moral issues, good and bad, and you can create a monster. A monster.

Now, let me tell you something. Those of us who are in the ministry, those of us who speak, we have a particular, definite moral streak about us. We are more moralistic than most people. We don’t like sin. We don’t like what’s on television. We don’t like what’s being printed. We don’t like what’s being said. We don’t like what’s being done. It’s just one of the qualifications of being in the ministry. And being a minister, you care about moral issues. That thing can get out of control and become absolutely obsessive when, actually, it should be swinging in the other direction toward grace. Now, I would to God that you could get some perception and step back and ask yourself where you are. Is it possible? I’m talking to you as a layman now. Is it possible that you have found yourself under a legalist who has put you under the law and taken away from you the grace and freedom of the Lord Jesus Christ?

I wouldn’t try talking to him if I were you. He will convince you he is correct every time. “But doesn’t the Bible say,” and “Isn’t it true?” And if you don’t, this will lead to…and if you do, this will lead to…No, I’m just…you can make the Bible teach anything. It doesn’t matter what it is. You can have it taught. There is nothing this world has ever known, said, or believed that you cannot get the Bible to teach that. But watch his life. Just look at him. Observe him. Observe what’s happening around you. Are you in the middle of freedom? Are you in the middle of something where someone comes down from the top, the fountain head, someone is obsessed with adjusting your life, hair dos, clothing, way of talking, dress, moral standards, it’s leading, submission, authority. These guys love to preach on authority because they are authoritarian by nature. By the way, always ask them this. Are you an oldest child, a youngest child, or maybe an only child? You watch this oldest-and-youngest-child business. That’s the worst thing that can happen to you, especially being the oldest child. Say amen, Brenda. Yeah, because Brenda’s a second child and I know her sister really well.